In memoriam Theodore C. Sorensen (1928-2010)

He was John F. Kennedy's legendary speech-writer and he died on October, 31 at the age of 82. You might not have heard of him but surely you have heard some of his masterful rhetoric.

If you want to know more (and see pictures and videos), read the Washington Post's obituary here, the New York Times' here, Vanity Fair's here, The Guardian's here, and a blog entry from the New Yorker here.

November 9 in German history

November 9 is a strangely important day in German history. Here are some examples of events that took place on this day:

1918 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, and Germany is proclaimed a Republic.

1923 – In Munich, Germany, police and government troops crush the Beer Hall Putsch in Bavaria. The failed coup is the work of the Nazis.

1938 – Nazi German diplomat Ernst vom Rath dies from the fatal gunshot wounds of Jewish resistance fighter Herschel Grynszpan, an act which the Nazis used as an excuse to instigate the 1938 national pogrom, also known as Kristallnacht.

1989 – Cold War: Fall of the Berlin Wall. Communist-controlled East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany. This key event led to the eventual reunification of East and West Germany.

For more details, consult the Wikipedia. The most specific article is the one in German.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

50th Anniversary of Kennedy Election as US President

On Muesday, 8th of November 1960, John F. Kennedy won the presidential elections in the US, defeating Richard M. Nixon. He was the first Catholic to do so and his victory was not overwhelming.

One finds a lot of information on JFK at the pages of the Presidential Library in Boston, MA, and at those of the museum dedicated to the Kennedy family in Berlin.

The German weekly Die Zeit offers this article by Susanne Kippenberger.

The Spanish daily El País had this article to commemorate the event.

The Boston Globe offers this article on the anniversary, the Boston Herald this one, as well as this one on a new exhibition at the JFK Hyannis Museum.

An electric scooter made in Catalunya

Yesterday it was presented: an electric scooter designed for urban traffic, i.e. for short distances of up to 50kms -afterwards the batteries have to be charged for six hours-, and the first one entirely made in Catalunya. It's name: Rieju Mius 4.0. It will be on sale in the spring of 2011 and cost around 4.000€ in its homeland. The picture acompanying this post is from an article in today's Avui newspaper.
You can find a presentation of the scooter on its maker's website.

Dexter House

Nothing concerning Catalonia or any recent event. If you are ever looking for a cheap place to stay in New York City try Dexter House on W 86th Street. It's old and the bathrooms would need some reformation but everything is clean, the rooms have a sink, a fridge, a microwave, a TV, and AC. The atmosphere is that of a student dorm. It's even cheaper than a youth hostel and a lot quieter. There's a metro station two blocks away, i.e. on upper Broadway as well as supermarkets and pizza places. I stayed there in March 2010 and really liked it. Reservations can be made via budgetplaces.com.

Finally an anti-tobacco law

Though today the big news in Spain is the government exchange of six secretaries and the long overdue "elimination" of two departments - that of housing and that of gender equality (cf. FT article at post's end) - finally the parliament in Madrid has approved a general smoking ban from January 2011 on in all restaurants and bars and also on child playgrounds and hospital facilities - though there will the exceptions for psychiatric hospitals, old-age nurseries and prisons.
This was also long overdue as the first "anti-tobacco" law of 2005 was a "toothless tiger" as it exempted bars smaller than 100 sqm, where the owners could decide if they wanted to become smoke-free; and hardly any wanted to...
Campaigners criticize that the new law will allow gas stations to install cigarette vending machines, i.e. increasing the number of places where one can buy tobacco at the same time that it is decreasing the number of places where one is allowed to smoke.


For more news on the changes in the Spanish government:

Zapatero reshuffles cabinet as austerity bites

By Victor Mallet in Madrid

Published on ft.com: October 20 2010 13:29

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spanish prime minister, has reshuffled his cabinet in the face of rumbling popular discontent over his handling of the economy and the government’s austerity programme.

On Wednesday he promoted Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the interior minister widely regarded as the most competent member of the administration, to the additional post of deputy prime minister, replacing the loyal Maria Teresa Fernández de la Vega.

Full article here

Ils sont foux les français

They are simply crazy the French strikers: while in the rest of Europe governments are pushing the retirement age to 67, they do not want to accept that they will have to work until age 62 before receiving a government pension. With life expectancy rising in France like everywhere else in Europe the actual system will quickly become unsustainable: the pension age has to rise or pensions have to be cut drastically - or the children of today's strikers will have to bear the burden of their parents' blindness.
This blog's writer was affected personally by last week's general strike in France as his parents had to stay two days longer on a holiday to the Catalan countryside as their flight was cancelled due to the air traffic controllers's strike...